Almost-Daily Diary
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Ride reports & bike news from Chain Reaction's Mike JThu Mar 28 23:08:25 2024 / +0000 GMTUniversal Post Manager 1.1.2 [ www.ProfProjects.com ] Recalibration ride- Redwood City/Santa Cruz loop
http://chainreactionblogs.com/diary/?p=4207
Thu Mar 28 23:08:25 2024 / +0000 GMThttp://chainreactionblogs.com/diary/?p=4207
It felt good doing something so familiar; Kevin and I know this loop like most know "The Loop" in Portola Valley. Up Old LaHonda, over Haskins Grade, then the rollers of Cloverdale. The only real surprise came when we exited to the coast and found that the Gazos Creek Grill is no longer in business. Not an issue for us, since our planned lunch stop was in Davenport (14 miles down the coast) but something to keep in mind for other rides.
Mild crosswinds for the run to Davenport, with moderate tailwinds from there to Santa Cruz. Normally we'd make a full lunch stop at Davenport, but the Whaler Cafe had run completely out of their awesome ham & cheese (or turkey and cheese) croissants, and everything else for that matter other than cookies. So we shared a quick Mtn Dew and cookie and continued on to Santa Cruz, eating lunch at Emily's, which is highly recommended. Not terribly fast, but very friendly and very good.
As always, the worst part of this ride is the run up Highway 9 from Santa Cruz to Boulder Creek, and this being Labor Day, the traffic was even heavier than normal. We made our usual water & Mtn Dew stop at the Boulder Creek gas station and then headed up 9 to Skyline, leaving behind the heavy traffic and narrow roads, and finally feeling like we were on home turf, especially once on Skyline with Mr. Mustard waiting. No hot dog for us this time, just some drunks and then a fast run across Skyline, down into Woodside and home.